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Botanical Art Tutorial

There are many ways to express yourself artistically by creating art through botany. Plants are wondrous and interesting creations. Use these gifts of nature to inspire botanical illustration, photography, paintings and even garden design. A side benefit of doing botanic art is that it gets a person out of doors and into the fresh air. It can make a person more observant of the world around her and can give a greater appreciation of life.

Instructions

- 1
  Photograph plants with a macro lens for close-up designs and artistic bursts of color. A leaf or a bud of a flower may become interesting artwork when photographed from different perspectives. Arrange a nice shot of a garden to enlarge and frame. Use black and white photography to enhance the drama of depth, shading and light.
- 2
  Set up your easel in the garden to draw pictures of nature. Enjoy the solitude as you select and sketch the subject of your drawing. Use colored pencils or charcoals to bring out the individuality of the subject.
- 3
  Paint with watercolors or pastels to create an ethereal view of nature using impressionistic, indistinct paintings, or sketch the object before painting to create canvases that are very specific and realistic in color, shape and look of the object.
- 4
  Purchase some floral foam and a vase or dish for flower arranging. Select colorful cut flowers or dried flowers. Use a shallow container to arrange short-stemmed or trailing flowers for a horizontal centerpiece arrangement, or tall flowers for a side table or countertop piece. Combine colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel for an eye-catching arrangement (such as purple with yellow or blue with orange). Use shades of the same base color for a more stately arrangement.
- 5
  Sculpt fruit or vegetables. Make a beautiful yellow flower by cutting away the bottom of a pineapple. Or, make a continuous peel of a radish and then roll loosely back together to make a rose. Carve watermelons into lots of different shapes that can be useful, such as a basket or large bowl, or a whimsical shape such as a fish or dinosaur. Pumpkin carving is also botanical art.
- 6
  Get out your hedge clippers to create topiary shrubbery design, another form of botanical art. Place topiary forms over the shrub and clip the plant into shape. Prune areas that you want to fill in to promote growth. Grow a vine over a topiary form for a different look.
- 7
  Design your own garden. This is the quintessential form of botanical art. Grow flowers, vegetables, fruit, and greens in gorgeous combinations. The ideal flower garden will always have something in bloom throughout the growing season.

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